


Grief

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 17:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12775452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Rumple rediscovers grief after Belle's death.





	Grief

He’d lived so long and forgotten so much. He’d lived through loss before, and death, but he’d forgotten about grief. Not the sharp, howling pain that came in the moments after Belle’s passing. The pain left him numb, but drove him to dig a grave in a matter of hours, uncaring for the blisters that the spade handle caused on his hands. That fresh pain stabbed him again when he couldn’t bare the idea of putting Belle’s lifeless body in a box again. That fresh pain drove him to weave her a shroud from his best yarn. That fresh pain carried him through Belle’s death and burial.

The grief came later creeping in when he thought he was empty of tears. Grief that was triggered by the simplest of things. The half-read book by their bed that would never be finished. The cup by the sink that would never be filled with overly sweet tea again. The cloak hanging by the door that he would never wrap around her shoulders again. The empty chair.

He tired to be strong for Gideon, but they cried together at Belle’s graveside. He spent one more night in the empty house that had once been a home before he left. The walk to the edge of the garden was slow and bittersweet, and it took him along time to turn around for one last look at the place he had been happiest in his long life. He raised the Dagger and cast a protection spell over the home they had built together. Belle would understand him using magic to keep their home safe just this once. Before he left he made one slight alteration to the spell, should anyone journey to the Edge of Realms and be in need of a home, they would be welcomed here. He stowed the Dagger in his coat and rolled the magic bean between his fingers.

“I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”


End file.
